Talk:a picture paints a thousand words

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a picture paints a thousand words

A picture may be worth a thousand words, sure. But I've never heard this variety. (Residual Wonderfoolism.) --Connel MacKenzie 01:33, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

It's from the song whose name I don;t know. (If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can't I paint you). I think the song was by the group Bread. --EncycloPetey 01:38, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Possibly. No Google Book hits prior to the 1980s. DAVilla 01:56, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Found my copy of the CD and added the info to the etymology. --EncycloPetey 02:13, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

RFV passed, clearly widespread use. DAVilla 01:56, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

So, under the "current" procedure, should the {rfv} tag be removed, replaced, or what? --EncycloPetey 02:15, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Forgot. Now removed. This is one reason we could use a bot. DAVilla 05:52, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Whoa, waitasec. Idioms are supposed to be at the normal form, with redirects from the alternates. (It's the one fully established case, nay, the only fully established case, where redirects are undisputed.) This entry should not be anything more than a redirect. --Connel MacKenzie 06:38, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Except that this form has a specific etymology different from the "standard" one. --EncycloPetey 06:56, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Here's the thing though: ...wait.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll break out my ASCII art stylus and draw you a picture:

         <vandal enters bizarre rare form of a common idiom>
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       <Idiot sysop nominates the page on RFV instead of RFC>
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                       /   \                 \
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             \         <wrong form lingers>    \
              \            /         \          \
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              <happy vandal>            \          \
                   |                    <Correct version still not entered>
                   |                                                /\
      <4chan goes nuts with happy story>                             |
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   <RegisterUK writes another "Wiktionary is worthless" hate piece>  |
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         <Wiktionary gets 2,000 new [bad] users next day>  /
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               / \                                      /
              |   \------------------------------------/
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      <start process over>

--Connel MacKenzie 08:52, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

I disagree on two points

1. The sysop isn't an idiot...we can call you many things, but certainly not idiot ;-)
2. It wasis a beautiful song (Telly Savalas' cover reached No 1 in the UK in 1975, in spite of the fact he spoke it rather than sang it -- after all, it must be the only song that makes even the Apocalypse sound romantic) and many of us, perhaps aging, people use the phrase from time to time because of that. It has 122 b.g.c. hits [1] between 1985 and now, and certainly the first 20 or so are all independent uses. This compares with 706 hits for a picture is worth a thousand words so it's not that rare.

I've added it to my list to cite if no one gets there first. Meanwhile, turn away from the computer, look wide eyed at the most loved person in your life, and say, gooily, "The words will never show the you I've come to know." Aaah! Now you know why it took 10 yrs for the first book to be published using the phrase. The slogan of the 70s was make love, not work...or something like that. --Enginear 21:34, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps the best place to see and hear a cite is at [=spam= /watch?v=Syxwkc36jas Love Letters - An Animated Proposal - v2.0] by Jeffrey Paul. It was his way of proposing to his girlfriend (now fiancee), and it both entertaining and well-done, though the context of the quote would be hard to capture in a citation. --EncycloPetey 03:51, 8 January 2007 (UTC)